Life is short...blog later.

I'm just sayin'...it's a struggle sometimes to balance time spent memory making (living life), and memory keeping (blogging, scrapbooking, journaling). My goal is to use this web log as a "tool" to share a glimpse of our lives with loved ones and also to chronicle our day-to-day life. Years from now, maybe our children will read this and crack up at their silly momma-uh, I mean revel in their glorious childhood memories. :)

For us, back-to-school means back to structure, early bedtimes, routine (which is so refreshing!) back to busy days and evenings. The challenge as the woman-of-the-house is to create balance in our schedule, to gauge how our activities fit our priorities, and leave margin in our lives for rest and worship. That's no small task! Whoo-wee, Lord, help us! I write this as I look at my to-do list and read..."plan daily schedule"...I think I'd rather do laundry!

Anyway, in effort to procrastinate planning our daily schedule a little longer, and since I'm feeling inspired to look back...here's my attempt to "re-cap" on what's been going on in the last month...

(pictured: Dad, Grandpa, Aunt Cindy, me and Reecie)

On August 18, my Uncle Keith passed away after a long battle with cancer. Uncle Keith was an avid hunter, a great daddy to Ashley, and husband to my Aunt Cindy...the thing I'll always remember about him was the way he could make people feel comfortable enough to be themselves around him...no pretenses, just a warm smile, and a kind heart that was so evident in his countenance. I so enjoyed getting to spend time with my extended family. Hannah Reece and I flew up to Indiana with Mom and Dad for about 5 days. This was Hannah Reece's first plane ride...she loved it!

I've never been away from either one of the kids for more than one night, so we were all really missin' each other. The reunion was sweet...

Birthday girls and Build a Bear...

We took Aug./Sept. birthday girls to Build-a-Bear for some fun! Grandma joined in and we had a ball together...

Sisters Weekend...

Surprised Jen with a pre-baby sister's weekend on Ft. Myers Beach! One of our mentors in the Apples of Gold Program at church was kind enough to offer up her house for the weekend. To sum it up, our overnight involved plenty of junk food (especially chocolate!), shopping, manicures/pedicures and Nichole giving Jen and I haircuts! I think this will be an annual tradition!

Boy was I surprised to return home on Saturday night to a house that had been COMPLETELY altered (furniture moved around in every room) by my sweet husband. He also informed me that he had found a cute twin-sized bed for Hannah Reece over the weekend at a local thrift store...and that she was SLEEPING IN IT!! Wow, I'd better brace myself for change if I decide to spend the night away again! P.S. The mattresses didn't come from a thrift store, because my husband knows my germ-o-phobe tendancies.

Back to School...

Graham started Pre-K! A little sadness at drop-off for the first week...the second week was so much better....I'm sure bribery had nothing to do with that. It's only been 6 years since I taught Kindergarten...I can't believe the children are expected to know how to spell their names in the 2nd week of PRE-K! I remember teaching handwriting to my Kindergarteners on the first week. Wow, how times-and standards have changed. Here's our big name-spellin' boy...

And on our way out, Hannah Reece just sobbed, "I need Bubba" over and over-it broke my heart! So we just stayed away and played all day...library, grocery, chick-fil-a...because truth be told we both missed Bubba. Back to school is so bittersweet, I'm thankful that I still have one baby at home!

An exciting piece of news: Graham is no longer allergic to dairy or wheat products!!! This is so exciting from a meal planning stand-point...and it will give Graham more variety in his diet- which is super because he is a growin' boy! Our last hold-outs are eggs and corn.

Rock the Universe at Universal Studios...

Had the opportunity to join Dan and the youth group for this weekend Christian concert event...it was fun to ride rides and walk around the park like we were dating again!

Booga noses...

Hannah Reece had one of those colds that lasted for 3 weeks...where you just look at that little nose and say...poor baby! I just could not pass this one up....